Pay down debt, or save as much money as possible?

[Nick Barber]

Hello, 

For the last 5 months or so I have been reading as much about real estate investing as possible, trying to analyze deals in my area and save up as much money as possible; however, I am stuck between trying to pay down debt or make the minimum monthly payment on my loans.  I have student loans (~180/month @ ~4.5% interest) and a small car payment (~$251/month @ 5.4% interest). Do I try to wipe out my car debt with what I have saved so far, delaying my time I enter the real estate investing market?

I appreciate your feedback!

-Nick 

[Joe Ferguson]

I thought alot about this at first as well. I also have student loans and a car payment. I ultimately decided that taking the money I could use to pay off my car would be better spent on house hacking a 3 or 4 unit. Paying the car off saves me $400 per month. Worst case scenario on the multi I live for "free" which saves me my current rent of $700 per month. With 4 units I'm hoping to have a little positive cash flow to add to that. That same amount of money makes me twice as much, gives me a free place to live and gets me into the real estate game. The car can wait. One mans opinion of course.